Albares signs four cooperation agreements with Iceland during first bilateral visit to the country

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, has returned from his trip to Iceland, having signed four new cooperation agreements with his counterpart, Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir. Against this backdrop of mutual understanding, the Minister also met with the Icelandic Prime Minister, Kristr​ún Frodstadóttir, and visited the Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, where he met with the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Pawel Bartoszek.

Spain and Iceland share common ground in numerous areas of foreign policy, such as the defence of multilateralism and international law, security in the Arctic, gender and LGBTI+ equality policies, and international development cooperation. The Minister's visit to Iceland comes at a time when relations between the two countries are strengthening, as demonstrated by the opening, in December last year, of the Icelandic Embassy in Madrid. The Minister also reiterated his commitment to opening a Spanish embassy in Reykjavík in the near future.

During Minister Albares's meeting with his counterpart, four cooperation agreements were signed: on political consultations, on the training of diplomats, on gender equality and on scientific cooperation. Furthermore, both ministers have decided to promote the cooperation agreement on education signed in 2023 to ensure that Spanish has a greater presence in Iceland, given the growing interest in the language in the country, driven by tourism and educational cooperation, such as the annual Spanish festival organised by Spain's diplomatic mission in the Icelandic capital.

The visit also served to explore greater collaboration between companies from both countries in sectors such as the shipbuilding industry, aviation safety and renewable energy. Ways of enhancing cooperation within the framework of the so-called 'blue economy' were also discussed.

During his visit to the country, Albares also visited the Keflavík Air Base, where Spain was deployed in the summer of 2025 with the Stinga detachment as part of a NATO air policing operation. Furthermore, from July 2026, Spain will take part in NATO's Arctic Sentry mission. Spain and Iceland advocate a 360-degree approach to security, including the Arctic, and share an interest in multidimensional security encompassing cybersecurity and the protection of critical infrastructure.

During his visit, the Minister announced the forthcoming publication of the Spanish Polar Strategy, expressing a desire for Spanish scientists - who are already present in Icelandic waters every year as part of the annual campaigns carried out by our oceanographic vessels - to take part in joint research projects with Iceland.

Following the bilateral meeting with her Icelandic counterpart, the two ministers took part in the symposium 'Relations between Iceland and Spain: an ever-closer partnership' at the University of Iceland. During the event, the ministers discussed the global context, human rights, European affairs and relations between the two countries. Albares called for a more ambitious European project, at a time when Iceland is moving closer to the European Union.

Albares also visited, alongside the Icelandic Foreign Minister, the Thingvellir National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates diverge, offering an insight into both the geological formation of the North Atlantic and the origins of one of the world's oldest and most enduring parliamentary institutions.

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